The Flux of Life

If nothing else, life is not about staying the same. Stuck in stasis. Static. Changeless.

If nothing else, life is all about change.

From the moment of conception, even long before we were a glimmer in any forebearers eye, we are all the product of change. From pre-cellular stage long before we have any possibility of choosing our environment or aiming for something better, we are often stuck with the choice of our long lineage of DNA. The ending of our lives often comes as a result of historical choices made in the gene pool of time.

I feel this in my personal life and see it through the eyes of a child, sibling, father, husband, and pastor… We are constantly living with change! Nothing can stay the same. My favorite photo of my kids represent a snapshot of time and history but is nothing like who they have become today. Change happens! Just as you can never go back to a place you’ve once lived and assume it will be the same. Why? It constantly changes! My favorite auto represents the past and very little of the present car market grabs my attention. My favorite memories are often represented in my past, but if I live long enough then this present day will be part of a favorite memory of my past.

We may feel like we are stuck in a particular situation, but if you consider that everyone and everything is in a constant state of flux, then maybe we can look at our status a little differently. Who knows that some other change down the road or in another situation or that is only tangentially attached to our situation can affect where we are in life? An election, death, creation, invention… everything you think about can somehow change our lives. We are truly in constant flux. Cancers grow and then we learn how to defeat them, and I’m sure there will come a day when they will be a scary memory of our past, just like many diseases we’ve learned to manage through vaccination and better living habits.

Flux… Physics describes flux as “the rate of flow of a fluid, radiant energy, or particles across a given area.” And if we’ve learned anything about our universe, we are part of the flow of energy and particles that move like the tide. One moment we are in a tidal pool of quiet, and then a bore tide sweeps through and changes everything! Then, thinking we are safely in our new environment, a Rip Tide tears through and like the sand captured in the funnel of an hourglass we begin to lose our stability. Consider that there are bodies of water that have multiple High Tides and Low Tides every single day.

This kind of thinking always takes me back to Solomon. He was recognized as the smartest man alive and was full of wisdom. And he was not satisfied with what he knew, he constantly wanted more. He led Israel for 40 years after his father, King David, retired. The excesses of accumulated wealth and knowledge led him far from the roots of his beginnings and down the road of life he paused and looked backward. In his beginning, he was full of investigative wonder and ready to explore the vast sea of knowledge and experience. Toward the ending of his life, he reminisced and wrote what seems to be his public apology for the waste and excesses of his life.

I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven;
this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;
and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness,
and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem.
My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”
And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.
I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
(Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 NKJV)

The Preacher sought to find acceptable words;
and what was written was upright—words of truth.
The words of the wise are like goads,
and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails,
given by one Shepherd.
And further, my son, be admonished by these.
Of making many books there is no end,
and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.
(Ecclesiastes 12:10-14 NKJV)

We heard it said that at the moment that life leaves the body a person may relive their entire life in a flash. “Researchers from Hadassah University in Jerusalem examined seven different people who had near-death experiences and discovered the flashbacks many people saw right before death were highly intense moments in their lives.” [Source] Some who survived a potentially life-ending event described the moment. One person may describe it as a flashback, and another person said it felt like they were in the moment for centuries.

But here’s the thing. You cannot undo anything that flashes through your memory. You have only the present to do the things you know you should and could be doing. Wasted effort and time will only bring remorse if you ever face this flash of memory.

While listening to a radio program on the way home from church, (KIRO Nights) the hosts were interviewing Amanda Knox. And if you have to ask “who?” then you are out of my comfort zone! It seems that each night they have a big question to ask, answer, and people text their own answers. Last night, the question was: “What is your Motto of Life?” One host (Gee Scott) said his motto had become “Take the High Road” because the Golden Rule seemed to say it was okay to do bad to others who do bad to you! The other host (Zak Burns) said his motto came from a kids Christmas Carol, and that most of his “life lessons” came from Christmas Carols! Anyway, his came from his mom singing the song, “…so be good for goodness sake…” Amanda said hers in Italian and I cannot recite it here, but it seems it was the idea that “I know I’m not alone even when I’m alone.” [Source] It was something she wrote from prison to her family and she said it at the end of every letter. I’m not alone. Even when I’m alone. Powerful words!

Even when it seems that life has you isolated from all things that define you to the world, you are not alone. There are things happening in the flux of life that can change your circumstances. This is what I believe about Prayer. Prayer changes things. If nothing more, it changes me. And that is a great response to the isolation or situation I may find myself locked in. Prayer will cause me to reflect, think, believe, and act. Why is this so necessary? The Flux of Life requires me to live in the real time of what is happening versus what I wished happened in some past moment, or what I hope happens in the future. My reality is now. Today. Here. This moment. The tide may be coming in or going out. But my reality is now.

Here’s a scripture about something that never changes and is always a constant. Our creator stands in the middle of our life and states, “I do not change!” (Malachi 3:6) The writers of Hebrews declares this same God as Jesus who also never changes. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8) If we ever need something rock steady in this weird flux of life then it should be our God who is not subject to the flux of life and living!

One final thought. Back in the 50’s, the decade of my birth, Pete Seeger wrote a song that included some famous scripture from the writings of Solomon. In fact, it’s from the same book referenced above. Ecclesiastes. Though the song did not become hugely popular until The Byrds released in in 1965, it spoke and still speaks about the change that we all see in the world around us. Some of us see it from our vantage point of having been through it before, and others, well, many are experiencing it for the very first time…